HDP co-leader: Turkey's president blocking peace

HDP co-leader: Turkey's president blocking peace

COPENHAGEN

The solution process could be revived before the Nov. 1 general election, says Demirtaş.

Restarting Turkey's stalled "solution process" is being blocked by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to the co-leader of the Kurdish problem-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Selahattin Demirtaş said on Sept. 25 that the process -- officially launched in early 2013 but halted after the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) renewed its armed campaign in July -- could be resumed before the Nov. 1 general election, Anadolu Agency reported.

"The solution process could be revived before the Nov. 1 general election but President Erdoğan closed his doors entirely," Demirtaş told reporters in Copenhagen before meeting Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen.

"Erdoğan is doing what is necessary to not start the solution process," he added, according the Anadolu Agency report.

Talks between the PKK leadership and the government were facilitated by the HDP and ran for two-and-a-half years as both sides sought to bring the 30-year Kurdish conflict to an end.

However, fighting resumed following the July 20 Suruc massacre, in which more than 30 people were killed. More than 120 members of the security forces have been murdered by the PKK since, according to the government, with around 30 civilians also killed.

The violence has threatened to overshadow November's election, which was called after the June poll failed to produce a majority party and talks to form a coalition failed.

Demirtaş also spoke of his concerns for the fairness of the election.

"The security of the ballot boxes will be riskier in the Nov. 1 general election," he said.